


The Indelible Mark She Made On Me, that Pirate-Poet on that Sunless Sea

by Halberdier



Category: Sunless Sea
Genre: Ballads, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Poetry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:13:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 1,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24398557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Halberdier/pseuds/Halberdier
Summary: I have a tale I'd like to tell / If ye will permit to me / in rhyming verse and many lines / written somewhat clumsily / of some portion of my life / serving in the admiralty / and of the joy and of the strife / created by my rivalry / with the Pirate-Poet of the Sunless Sea.
Relationships: The Pirate Poet/Zee-Captain(s) (Sunless Sea)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

I'll tell a tale to everyone  
If they would but permit to me  
that starts with many things I've done  
and many things that I would see  
But quickly leaves those things behind  
Or but in the periphery  
for that which left upon my mind  
and also upon my body  
written in eternity  
the indelible mark she made on me,  
That Pirate-Poet on that Sunless Sea


	2. Chapter 2

In all my days and years adrift  
upon the waves that call to me  
from years as jobber working shift  
to captain in the admiralty  
In all the times I was afloat  
in man or in woman or in enby  
no one who ever helmed a boat  
impressed upon my memory  
or traded blow for blow with me  
or took such hold upon my sanity  
as the Pirate-Poet of the Sunless Sea


	3. Chapter 3

It was in Fallen London town  
In the veiléd garden having tea  
That I had first received a brown  
Paper parcel sent to me  
Inside were maps and coordinates  
and a note of inheritancy  
Of a ship and of subordinates  
who all had pledged their loyalty  
To first my forebear, then to me  
To lead them all in brave glory  
To sail upon the Sunless Sea


	4. Chapter 4

Now I had just a poet been  
And nothing more I claimed to be  
Though once or twice had taken pen  
on a voyage to make delivery  
of goods to many a well-known port  
as Shepherd Isles and Station III  
but my time in crew had been quite short  
to justify ascendancy  
so sudden to a captaincy  
with ship and crew prepared for me  
to brave the waves of the Sunless Sea


	5. Chapter 5

So with fear and apprehension  
I called upon the admiralty  
And asked for help with comprehension  
of the task that had been laid on me  
It seems I had not made appointment  
and only met secretary  
as though she could sense disappointment  
she offered up these statements three  
"The ship of course is thine," said she  
"Report on ports, if inclined ye be,  
and help us chart the Sunless Sea."


	6. Chapter 6

I left the Admiral's office soon  
with far less sense of certainty  
and saw that it was nigh on noon  
and thought to get some lunch and tea.  
There, dining at some Wolfstack joint  
on mushroom wine and salmagundy,  
My forebear sat, and with a point,  
he hallooed and called to me,  
T. T. MacGroot, or Captain T.,  
the man who sealed my destiny  
to set a course on the Sunless Sea.


	7. Chapter 7

He sat me down beside him there  
And asked me somewhat leisurely  
leaning back against his chair  
What thought I of my inheritancy  
And doing so, he poured the wine  
A Greyfields, eighty two or three  
And stared his eyes straight into mine  
Compelling me to honesty  
For when he looked at you, he'd see  
right through your lies and hesitancy  
like glim light upon the Sunless Sea.


	8. Chapter 8

I told him I had hesitation  
though ungrateful I would never be  
Since I had not even destination  
to lead my newfound company  
He laughed and told me why he chose  
to hand his ship and crew to me  
For he had always admired my prose  
and even more, my poetry  
as only I, he said intimately  
Could truly write the Zong of Zee  
The greatest work of the Sunless Sea.


	9. Chapter 9

He said, "Other names I wouldnae ken  
whose skillful lines compared to thee  
save just one bearer of sword and pen  
who'd demonstrate a mastery  
that I could quite compare to thine  
own skillfulness with poetry.  
But out there on the salt and brine,  
no other could compare to she  
whose lines and guns are weaponry  
from which the bravest man would flee:  
The Pirate-Poet of the Sunless Sea."


	10. Chapter 10

"The Pirate-Poet?" I asked of him.  
He repeated the name and "Aye," said he,  
"No fiercer foe was seen by glim  
nor more trained in verse than she.  
Her Alcaeus Cruiser armed foot to fore  
rain iron shot from hell on thee  
and only if ye're nearer the shore  
wouldst thou have any chance to flee.  
But if in Gaider's Mourn ye be  
Ye might perchance o'erhear poetry  
That e'en she writes 'pon the Sunless Sea."


	11. Chapter 11

"For in that port, she sometimes stays  
to give 'r crew opportunity  
to spend a few rambunctious days  
in feasts and fights and revelry.  
And while in port sometimes she'll bet  
the tavern-keeper an echo or three  
that she can fill a room with one set  
of recitation and orat'ry.  
The room will fill with piracy  
but all eyes will be fixed on she  
The Pirate-Poet of the Sunless Sea."


	12. Chapter 12

"Her words will stir your heart to zzoup  
if movéd ye can ever be  
all who hear will shed a tear  
regardless of masculinity  
And you, whose soul all our friends know,  
of all shall not lose memory  
of all the words that you have heard  
in Gaider's Mourn at half past three  
in packed hall of tavernity  
read with careful mastery  
by the Pirate-Poet of the Sunless Sea."


	13. Chapter 13

Well this, of course, a challenge seemed  
that old MacGroot had laid on me  
to fight with wits and iron strong  
against her ship upon the sea  
but also too with words and song  
and verses of our poetry  
and I felt I could do no wrong  
and that I would have victory  
if I were to trade blows with she  
or fight with slams of poetry  
'gainst the Pirate-Poet of the Sunless Sea.


	14. Chapter 14

Thus bolstered by the challenge laid,  
I set out to claim my destiny  
and sally forth, now unafraid  
to take the helm that was meant for me  
of the _Ligeia_ Steamer and ten stout men  
who long had worked for Captain T.  
And some of whom were kin or ken  
and remembered when we sailed as we.  
So the klaxon sounded noisily  
and the waves buffeted mightily  
As first we sailed upon the Sunless Sea.


	15. Chapter 15

My early days were not of note.  
I would but barely leave the quay,  
and every time I launched the boat,  
I found my way home speedily.  
Though I had thought myself so bold,  
no other soul could e'er agree.  
But I saw caution getting old,  
and so I saw myself to be.  
Thus, I expeditiously  
set my inhibitions free  
and sallied forth upon the Sunless Sea.


	16. Chapter 16

Soon enough, I found my grit  
and managed a familiarity  
with ports up north and made reports  
and rose within the Admiralty.  
And sometimes, I might pass too close  
to Corsair's Forest or Anthe  
and might espy or engage a ship,  
itself engaged in piracy,  
that changed its course to challenge me,  
to not withstand my swift volley,  
and to sink beneath the Sunless Sea.


	17. Chapter 17

And thus in cocksure nerve I grew  
and boasted of my gallantry  
to all of those of whom I knew  
would listen to my tales of Zee  
But one night as I had a lunch  
of buttered scones and mossy tea  
on Hunters Keep with that lively bunch  
of much beloved sisters three  
I made my boasts to sweet Phoebe  
and laughed along with young Lucy  
as I told tales about the Sunless Sea.


	18. Chapter 18

The eldest, Cynthia, closed her eyes  
and with a sullen smile said she,  
"Your tales show you to be quite wise."  
I thanked her, but she silenced me,  
Saying, "You've been wise hedge your bets  
and not engage in rivalry  
with those who'd find you in their nets  
ensnared with deadly certainty--"  
"--I must object--" I thus decreed,  
but she went on relentlessly,  
"--like the Pirate-Poet of the Sunless Sea."


	19. Chapter 19

"Her cruising ship, an Alcaeus --  
its name is quite unknown to me --  
but the deeds she's done with it  
have entered into infamy.  
The Hung'ring Tides have had their fill  
of merchant vessels sunk by she  
and all of those who test their might  
find in her a stalwart enemy  
flinging ordnance furiously  
and sending every ship she'll see  
to slip beneath the Sunless Sea."


	20. Chapter 20

"I've heard this tale." I waved my hand  
to brush her off impatiently.  
Yet I was stirred by her command  
to sit and listen quietly.  
"So you may think," she said aloud,  
her power quickly taming me,  
"but if you see her through fog's shroud,  
remember what I say to thee:  
She fires from the fore, you see,  
and circles her prey hungrily  
like bound sharks within the Sunless Sea."


	21. Chapter 21

"And if you ply your trade with grace  
and best her with your gunnery,  
you may fight her face to face --  
a claim no swab can make but three.  
By each of these a scar was gained,  
a signature signed bodily.  
And each eternally was pained,  
until the day they died at zee,  
by such a wound that all could see.  
That mark would haunt the memory  
of any who faced the Pirate-Poet on the Sunless Sea."


	22. Chapter 22

"You would do well to heed my word,  
oh Captain, bold though you may be.  
For every story you have heard,  
have any lies been told by me?"  
"I must confess," I said to her,  
"that none tell stories quite like thee,  
and furthermore, I will defer  
to your notorious honesty.  
My goal one day will ever be  
to match your skills with the Song of Zee  
and write down the glories of the Sunless Sea."


	23. Chapter 23

"You do honor to me," Cynthia stated,  
"and flattery to my oratory  
when you say my rhetorated  
tales fuel your exploratory  
aspirations. But," she said,  
"she speaks far more eloquently,  
and you will lie awake in bed  
tossing, turning restlessly  
driven mad by the sublimity  
of the peerless poetry  
written by the Pirate-Poet of the Sunless Sea."


	24. Chapter 24

If I would say I was aghast  
that such a friend would say to me  
such cruel words that seem to cast  
dark shade upon my poetry,  
I would merely understate  
and thus dull the blade of memory.  
I stood up straight with my first mate  
And took our absence wordlessly.  
But from behind, dear young Lucy  
called out to give apology  
and supplies to use upon the Sunless Sea.


	25. Chapter 25

Of course, with time, these mem'ries past  
fill me with regret, you see,  
for I would trade no dearth of gold  
or souls for more time with those three.  
And if I may, a brief aside,  
give moral guidance here to thee,  
An ounce of grudge or offense held  
in the heart and mind tightly  
will poison thought and memory  
and naught but camaraderie  
will keep you sane upon the Sunless Sea.


End file.
